What Jeb Bush says on illegal immigration

FILE - In this Feb. 26, 2013, file photo, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush talks with the media following his address on education to the Texas Business Leadership Council in Austin, Texas. Bush writes in a new book that the nation needs to completely overhaul its immigration policies but cautions against providing a pathway to citizenship for illegal immigrants, a position that puts him at odds with some Senate reformers within his own party. (AP Photo/Eric Gay, File)
— AP

FILE - In this Feb. 26, 2013, file photo, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush talks with the media following his address on education to the Texas Business Leadership Council in Austin, Texas. Bush writes in a new book that the nation needs to completely overhaul its immigration policies but cautions against providing a pathway to citizenship for illegal immigrants, a position that puts him at odds with some Senate reformers within his own party. (AP Photo/Eric Gay, File)
/ AP

Former Florida governor and popular Republican leader Jeb Bush has roiled the GOP in recent days with his views on immigration reform.

In a newly released book that he co-authored, Bush outlines a plan that would legalize unauthorized immigrants living in the United States but not offer access to citizenship. In the past two days, he has clarified his position by saying he could support a pathway to citizenship if reform is done in way that prevents future illegal immigration.

Bush’s framework differs from the two major proposals unveiled so far in Washington, D.C. — the plan by a bipartisan group of eight senators and the blueprint espoused by President Barack Obama. The senators’ recommendations include a pathway to citizenship that is tied to border-security and law-enforcement benchmarks to be developed later, while Obama’s proposal grants access to eventual citizenship without such contingencies.

Bush co-wrote “Immigration Wars: Forging an American Solution” with lawyer Clint Bolick. The work includes this passage: “It is absolutely vital to the integrity of our immigration system that actions have consequences — in this case, that those who violated the law can remain but cannot obtain the cherished fruits of citizenship. To do otherwise would signal once again that people who circumvent the system can still obtain the full benefits of American citizenship.”

As governor of Florida, Bush had pushed for allowing unauthorized immigrants to gradually become naturalized. His position changed while co-writing the book last year because of certain dynamics in the GOP primary, he said in interviews this week. In particular, he said, he wanted to provide a more moderate position against some Republicans’ calls for “self-deportation” and an insistence on not allowing any form of legal residency for unauthorized immigrants.

But now, the political landscape on immigration has shifted again.

Many Republican leaders who once opposed a path to citizenship now accept the idea, reflecting their growing concerns about alienating the Latino voters who were key to Obama’s re-election victory. For example, prominent GOP senators Lindsey Graham, John McCain and Marco Rubio are part of the bipartisan group of eight.

Graham was among those who criticized Bush’s plan Tuesday, saying it would undercut what he saw as more viable efforts to pass immigration reform in Congress this year. Graham and Rubio said letting unauthorized immigrants stay in the U.S. legally without the option of citizenship is tantamount to creating a permanent underclass, which they said would be harmful to society.

Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Vista, has not had a chance to review Bush’s plan, said his spokesman Frederick Hill. But in an op-ed piece published Sunday in The Orange County Register, Issa wrote that he approves of the eight-senator proposal. Issa also wrote that he would criticize any plan that places people in a limbo status and said it is “inherently un-American to create a new group of second-class citizens that are allowed to stay indefinitely but given an indefinite unknown status.”

“Neither blanket amnesty nor blanket deportation is the solution,” Issa wrote. “True immigration reform must put our national interests in innovation and a robust economy first, and prevent revisiting this problem yet again.” The eight-senator framework, he added, “offers a realistic starting point to pass and implement reforms that succeed where the 1986 immigration reform bill failed.”

Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-Alpine, has repeatedly said he wants to see greater border and interior enforcement before any action is taken to deal with the unauthorized population in the United States, his spokesman Joe Kaspar said Tuesday.

“Realistically, the whole concept of reform hinges on the enforcement piece and what mechanism is in place to verify the enforcement provisions are working. Without that, it’s hard to imagine how a bill leaves the starting gate,” Kaspar said. “The upside of (Bush’s) plan is that he’s putting ideas out there, like them or not.”

Bush’s position in the new book sets him to the right of some high-profile Republicans and represents an effort to sell immigration reform to conservatives, said Tom Wong, a professor of political science who specializes in the politics of “immigration, citizenship and migrant illegality” at the University of California San Diego.

“Jeb Bush is running behind the fast-moving immigration reform debate and is trying to play catch-up,” Wong said. “As the political winds shifted, he moderated his position. In this sense, he’s trying to ‘etch-a-sketch’ his position on immigration a la (former GOP presidential candidate Mitt) Romney, and we know how that ended.”

But others, including Ron Nehring, vice chairman of the local Republican Party and former chairman of the state Republican Party, said stirring debate is always helpful on significant issues such as immigration. They said Bush’s remarks ultimately help by placing more attention on the need to bring about changes to the nation’s immigration system in coming months.

“Washington has been trapped in this false choice between deporting everyone, which is not practical in a country with limited government, and granting citizenship to everyone, which creates incentives for people to violate the law,” Nehring said. “Jeb Bush is helping to move the discussion forward by putting more options on the table, and that discussion is important to eventually reaching a consensus.”